To Reach the Child Who Hungers for Purpose

Digital vs. Analog

Many of my colleagues in the field believe Every Student Stem. By upbringing and by trade, I am not a programmer. A gamer-at-heart perhaps, but not a programmer. Yet I believe in that mantra as well.

It is silly for us to view today’s student as anything but a ‘STEM’ student. As a parent I often times find myself comparing my 4-year-old’s vocabulary to mine at his age. His frequent use of the terms profile and wi-fi astound me. When he fires up our XBOX 360, I must ask him to make sure he signed out of his brother’s profile and signed in with his own in order to avoid deleting anything.

Craziness!

My parents never said those kinds of things to me. We didn’t connect around Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo or King’s Quest on our Tandy 1000. I spent my childhood on a bridge between analog world and digital world – a bridge that my parents saw no use in crossing. A bridge that many saw no use in crossing.

Today is different. The bridge has disappeared. We can’t choose to live in analog world because it doesn’t exist. From cell phones to laptops to vehicle dashboards – digital rules, analog drools.

Yet…I see a desire in EdWorld to remain in our analog ways. We keep trying to view students as people who learn the way we did, the way our parents did and the way our parents’ parents did. We struggle to view students as the digital natives they are. The fact that this generation grew up with a device in their hands has profound implications regarding how they learn (not to mention how they acquire knowledge). Elaine does a brilliant job of laying it all out here.

#PivotTheModel

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us – in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions.

Our faithful followers at Never Summer know that our mission is to To reach the child who hungers for purpose in #PivotTheModel design school learning. If we are to truly pivot the model in education, we must take better steps to understand our students. Better yet, let’s start by seeing them for who they are and not who we want them to be.

Bored…uninspired…unchallenged………….creative…innovative…hungry

Learning is not vertical, it is horizontal. Let’s show them how to use content, not feed them full of it.

We are not creating workers in a factory; we are creating leaders of tomorrow. Let’s let go of learn-test-forget in favor of ask-think-solve.

Every child has a purpose. Let’s move away from a model that squashes it in favor of one fosters it.

A shift is not difficult. It just takes people. edOS @ Wings this summer is about the shift. edOS is about the people. Our panel of speakers believes in the shift. They believe in the need to change our lenses and focus our efforts on what truly matters. They believe in reaching the child who hungers for purpose.

Don’t miss out on this great opportunity. Tickets are going fast. Click here to purchase your tickets or go to the homepage for more information. #PivotTheModel